Blizzard
by Kanan
Summary: Quatre and Duo go out on a mission, but the ones they're trying to help aren't as they appear. Can Rasid and the maganac corps. find them before the enemy? Takes place on a moutnain.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Yay! I don't own this series, but I'm just glad I'm writing something new for a change! I hope y'all like it!

Blizzard

"Master Quatre, are you sure about this?"

Quatre looked down from his gundam at Rasid. The maganac leader had a serious, yet worried expression as he stared at the young pilot. Said pilot had been polishing his mech when the question about his next mission came out of nowhere.

"What is bothering you, Rasid?"

"Something just doesn't feel right about all of this. I don't trust the men you've gotten involved with this time."

"I'm sure things will turn out just fine!"

"But I still wish you would reconsider and bring one of our men with you! What if something goes wrong?"

"If that should happen, I'll have Duo with me."

"Hey, Quatre!"

The other boy with long brown hair tied back in a braid whistled from the cockpit of the mobile suit. Quatre looked up and waved.

"The captain says it's time to load up!"

"Okay!"

"Master Quatre--"

"Wish me luck, Rasid!"

Without another word, Quatre jumped down into his own suit and closed the hatch. Soon after, he activated his machine and turned to follow his friend to the plane. As they left, Rasid bowed his head and put a hand over his heart.

"Good luck, Master Quatre."


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2:

Guns…

Guns. Fire. Explosions… It all happened so suddenly!

First, there was only silence and peace- well, mostly. The two pilots were seated in the passenger section of the cargo plane; however small it was. Duo had his eyes closed and was lightly bobbing his head in tune with the music he was listening to through his headphones, and Quatre was silently reading a book. Occasionally, he would glance at his friend and snicker. The music was so loud, Quatre could pretty clearly make out the lyrics to the song his friend was listening to. Obviously, Duo never heard him snickering.

Having been raised listening to classical music, Quatre wasn't completely used to the Japanese pop, but after hearing it more and more, he was beginning to like it.

And then there was their mission, the reason they were currently flying over freezing cold mountain tops with people they had never met before. They were hired through their gundams' engineers, or so their clients had said. The men at SSS had contacted them out of the blue to guard their precious cargo to a military base just over the mountains. However, they looked too suspicious. Rasid was right to worry, but with another pilot with him, Quatre was sure everything was fine.

Quatre had been taught to expect the unexpected, but he wasn't ready or prepared when the plane suddenly dropped altitude. Duo's headphones fell off and Quatre grabbed hold of the armrests as the plane struggled to stay air bound. After a minute, the plane had settled, but Quatre's heart hadn't. he was breathing hard for a minute, and Duo went to his side to comfort him.

"Quatre! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine…!"

Both of them chanced a glance out the window and saw smoke leaking from somewhere on top of the carrier. Without another moment's wait, they made their way to the cockpit and slammed open the door. Upon their entry, the pilot and co-pilot looked back at them. Surprisingly, they didn't look startled.

"What the hell happened?"

"We're under attack. Look ahead of us."

Strait ahead, a black carrier was on a collision course. Still, neither pilot looked worried.

"Why did they shoot at us?"

"They're after our cargo, obviously."

"But that doesn't make any sense! Don't they realize that if they shoot us down at this height, the cargo could be damaged? Can you open a channel?"

"No…"

The enemy ship fired again, and the whole ship shook. Duo and Quatre grabbed hold of handles behind the pilot's seats to keep from falling.

"Damn. Looks like they aren't giving us any choice! Lets get out there, Quatre!"

"Right!"

As they ran out, the pilots looked at each other and smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

The two pilots practically stumbled all the way to the cargo bay where their mobile suits were being held. The plane was being hit from seemingly all directions, as if they were being attacked by and invisible, flying enemy. It all seemed very suspicious. Still, they had to fight whatever enemy they were faced with, or they may not make it out alive. Upon reaching the hanger, Quatre went strait to his mobile suit, pulling off the cover and getting in. Duo, on the other hand, spotted something else on his way to Deathscythe. It was hiding under a cover, also, and it was just as big as one of their own machines. Grinning, he ran over and crawled underneath for a moment. After that, he got ready for the battle.

"Pilot, open the cargo loading door!"

The door opened slowly, and Quatre ran a scan of the outside and turned to Duo.

"We have multiple enemies currently on that carrier. We have to stop it before it gets too close or we're done for!"

"Right… this is gonna be fun! And with the new camera I installed, we can see all the cool action-packed moments later!"

"Duo… can't you ever be serious?"

"Nope! Then, I wouldn't be fun!"

the door was open, and the two stepped out onto the ramp, taking turns in getting onto the massive wings that were on either side of the plane. When out, the cargo doors on the other plane opened and a dozen Aries models came out.

"Great! We're up against a flying enemy! Well, this is gonna be interesting…"

"I've got it covered! Just do your best with the beam rifle!"

Quatre then did something he didn't enjoy doing… activated the notorious ZERO system. Though he was better at controlling the system and using it to his advantage, it's effects still wore him out. In an instant, Quatre's world went blank, and then he was surrounded by a blinding yellow right. While he was lost in his own world, Duo provided some backup, shooting down target after target. Sandrock took out one of it's curved blades, aimed, and threw it. It spun around an enemy and cut off the head from behind, before returning to the mech. Needless to say, Duo was very pleased to have caught that on video.

A long ways away, Rasid was pacing back and forth in the maganac corps. Command center. He had a worried expression on his face, but none of his superiors would dare try to convince him to calm down.

"How long has Master Quatre been gone?"

"Uh… the count is five hours, sir."

"I see…"

Finally, one of the men got brave.

"Sir, I'm sure the young master is all right! I mean, he's been piloting his machine for so long now… we must have confidence in abilities!"

"I do not doubt his skills, Auda. I just don't think I can trust the men who hired him and his friend. And fie hours should have been long enough for them to reach their destination and land…"

"Hey, you're right…! Come to think of it, it looked like they were heading in the wrong direction, too."

"That's it. Auda, contact their transport right away."

"Yes, sir!"

A few clicks of the keys on the console, and then…

"What the!"

"What is it?"

"Sir… I can't seem to get through."


	4. Chapter 4

I don't know what happened… everything was going just fine… I thought we were winning!

Those were Quatre's thoughts as the battle turned sour. One minute, he was fighting just like normal, winning, but then, he heard a crackled shout coming from his friend, and then the ZERO system completely shut itself off. The next thing he knew, he was watching the Deathscythe fall off the wing of the plane. It wasn't badly damaged, but Dup wasn't responding at all. He fell down through the thick cloud covering and Quatre leaned over only slightly, trying to see through them in search of his friend. Then, he felt a slight push and he, too, was falling. He must have taken a hit while his guard was down, and his monitor was out. Electricity sparked everywhere, and Quatre shielded his eyes as the glass monitor shattered from what he could tell, the storm was really bad. As he was falling, the cold air pummeled onto the sides of his mobile suit, and for a split second before he hit the ground, he remembered that he was a gundam pilot. He couldn't die like that.

The ground was hard, despite the soft snow that coated the mountainside. The machine fell, and rolled on its side. The gundam had managed to stay intact; Quatre, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. When the gundam stopped rolling, it was on its front, and Quatre was hanging down in his seat, slightly. He was quiet, or at least he tried to be, considering his heart was pounding and his arm was a bloody mess. The crash had knocked something loose in the cockpit, and it was stuck in his arm. The pain was excruciating, but on the count of three, the young pilot pulled out the harp object. He bit his bottom lip to keep from screaming, and he was still for a long time as he waited for his vision to blur and the pain to fade away into cold numbness. Then, he looked down at what he was holding. It was a metal bar. At the time, he couldn't figure out where it came from, so he unbuckled himself and opened the hatch to get out.

It wasn't much of an improvement outside. The wind was relentless and the cold was awful. Quatre was used to the desert, so his body was not accustomed to the cold at all. Still, he retrieved a rag from one of the pockets in the small bag he brought with him to wrap around his arm, and he held his vest closer to his body as he looked out into the never-ending white in search of the other gundam.

It was hard, but finally, he spotted the dark color of Duo's gundam's shield, and was thankful. He had once called the color tacky, but if it had been any other color, he wouldn't have seen it. Quatre was reluctant to leave the cover of his Sandrock, but with it damaged, he wouldn't be able to use it at all. So, gathring all his courage, the boy ran out and forced his way against the wind towards the other down mobile suit.

When he reached it, he was glad, and cold. Mostly cold. Because of how it landed, Quatre had a little bit of cover against the wind as he climbed up onto its front. The latch was stuck, and Quatre had to use all his strength to pry it open. He nearly fell off into the snow. The pilot recovered himself and peeked in only to find his friend unconscious. He had received a head injury, but at the time, the panicky boy could not discern the extent of the damage. He could see blood on Duo's forehead, and more on his outfit, and even small splatters on the monitor, which seemed to have remained intact, unlike his own. Thinking about it made his arm hurt and so he pushed the thought away and unbuckled Duo.

He couldn't use his left arm, it was cold, and Duo was heavier than Quatre had expected, which made it very hard to pull him down from the tall mobile suit. Once they were down into the snow, Quatre collapsed. The pain in his arm was unbearable. For the longest time, he just lay face-down in the snow, letting the cool, nearly-frozen water wrap around his small form and cradle his arm, making it numb. What was he to do now? Surely they would freeze to death in that wasteland. He needed a sign…

And a sign is just what he got. He looked up to see a small break in the weather, and his eyes widened. He hadn't realized it, but his gundam had landed with its arm extended, facing a small dark opening where a piece of the aircraft had fallen. It was a cave, and the boys' last chance for survival.

"My Sandrock… I thank you again, friend…!"

With renewed hope, he picked himself up out of the snow which had formed around him, a coffin, and used his good arm to lift Duo up slightly so the boy could pull him to the cave opening. Due to how the plane piece had landed, they got through just barely and the cold air was mostly blocked out. After setting his wounded friend on a dry part of the stone ground, Quatre went to work in trying to patch up the rest of the space. Afterwards, he would have to bandage Duo's head and make a fire…somehow.

Hours passed, and Rasid was furious. They had managed to get a hold of the carrier only once before the signal was lost, and his analysts were trying to pinpoint the area of where it was last spotted. All of them were worried, but none more than Rasid.

"Sir, do you thin Master Quatre can hold out on his own for so long?"

"He has that other boy with him…"

"Yes, but for all we know, there could have been an accident, and Master Quatre could be alone!"

"…For all we know, that boy could be alone, or both could be dead…"

Rasid pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration. He refused to believe what he had said, and his men knew that. Still, he hated wasting so much time in just trying to discover their whereabouts. Out of nowhere, a mug of coffee materialized in front of his face, and Rasid accepted it. After a few long sips, he set the mug down and made his way, briskly, to Quatre's quarters. Inside, the room was mostly plain. There were a few pictures on the dresser. One was of him and the other gundam pilots, one of him and his mother and father, and him and his sisters… and the last was of him and all of the maganac corps. He picked the picture up and stared deep into the boy's innocent face.

"I swear, Master Quatre… I'll find you."

"Sir!"

Quatre didn't know how long it had been. Hours ago, he had lost the ability to think strait, and his body was numb all over. He swayed dangerously to the left, then the right, and back to the left. He was staring at a random spot on the cave wall through a half-lidded gaze, not really seeing anything. His eyes were cloudy and dim, and his face paled more than usual. He couldn't hear or see, and he would have sworn he was in an oven, not trapped in a cold cave in the mountains. He thought he heard shuffling nearby, and from his hazy peripheral vision, he could almost see as Duo sat up and put a hand to his head.

"Ow… are we alive? Those damn people!"

He couldn't answer. His voice was gone.

"Hm? Quatre?"

His feeling was gone.

"Quatre, are you okay?"

He was gone…

"Quatre, answer me!"

Gone, gone gone……… And he collapsed. He was too far gone to awake on his own.

"Quatre?"


	5. Chapter 5

The world was dark and cold, but there was a small bit of warmth that fought it all away. Slowly, Quatre began to awake, and he looked up to see worried cobalt blue eyes staring down at him.

"Quatre! Oh thank god you're okay!"

Quatre just blinked at him, and watched as the other boy took out a small bottle of clear liquid from the small pack Quatre had brought.

"If anything happens to you, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get away from the angry mob of comrades you've befriended!"

Duo took a minute to examine the bottle.

"What is that?"

"Penicillin. You've shown signs of blood poisoning. Your arm looked really bad when you passed out!"

Quatre winced as he sat up in bed. His arm was wrapped up, and a sort of sling had been fixed to hold it up. Looking around, feeling warmth, Quatre spotted a small Bunsen burner and a boiling pot on top of it. The temperature had been turned way up, but it was nice to feel warmth. It felt like forever since he'd felt it. Turning back to Duo, he saw the needle in his hand and tensed slightly. But, it needed to be done. He helped roll up the sleeve of his shirt and waited until the needle was out of his arm to fall back down onto the space that Duo had made bigger, as to house both of them. He didn't hit the ground as hard as he thought he should have, and he only then noticed it when Duo removed his arm from behind his head that he was helped down.

"I'm sorry to be a burden like this… how is your head?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I've had enough head injuries to know that it doesn't crack easily! But you know… if we were in any other type of mobile suits…"

"Yeah… But we're also stuck now."

"Maybe not. The blizzard has calmed down."

"But with our gundams messed up, we can only go so far!"

"Ha! Leave that to me!"

With a wink and a salute, Duo rose up and left the sanctity of the cave.


	6. Chapter 6

Of course there had been doubts about Duo Maxwell's abilities… there had been some doubts since the beginning. Duo, the loud-mouthed party animal; being serious about something? Sometimes, it didn't seem possible, even though they had all seen that side of him. Duo was actually a very serious guy, but his humor was an added bonus, one might say. He was just addicted to socializing, Quatre decided. While he was unable to even move about, with nothing more to do than stare up at the cave ceiling and sleep, Duo went right to work, putting some of his best skills to use in order to help them both.

Hours had gone by like minutes, and when Quatre awoke, he was completely shocked at what stood before him. Not only had Duo taken care of him in his hazy state, but he had also gotten both gundams mostly repaired and operational. Duo, of course, was smiling triumphantly at his handiwork as Quatre got the low-down on what he'd done over that short period of time. Quatre's monitor, as he recalled, had been shattered during the battle and the fall, and since that huge sheet of glass could not have been prepared, Duo had fixed two smaller monitors to work in its place. When the blonde inquired as to where the monitors had come from the other told him that he always kept extra things like that handy. Right behind one of the wings on his mobile suit, there was a storage space, which no other person knew about. How clever, he thought.

After the run-down, both of them went back into the cave and rested for a while, taking turns in keeping watch while the other slept. That proved difficult for Quatre, but he still managed. Once a certain amount of time had passed, the two agreed that they should move out. Staying one a single place for two people on the run was not a smart move, and they doubted their attackers, and their so-called employers, would not just forget about them. The storm had, unfortunately, started up again by that time, but they couldn't afford to wait it out. So, Duo carefully helped Quatre into his mobile suit, got into his own, and they were off.

Due to the simple repairs, the move was slow, and the beating of the wind and snow against their suits wasn't helping, any. Still, the two of them knew they had to push on, no matter how hard it was; and it WAS hard. Duo was still recovering from a concussion, which he didn't want to mention at all. It was hard on him, of course, but nothing he couldn't handle. Quatre, on the other hand, was having a bit more trouble keeping it together as they walked along the snowy mountainside.

The pain in his arm had only increased over the past hour, as the painkillers wore off, and turning his head even just slightly to the left brought back the painful memory, as the inside of the cockpit was still deeply stained with his blood. Even without seeing it, he could smell the coppery liquid, and it, along with the fever caused by his injury, he wasn't feeling at all well. His vision blurred, and he was having trouble holding onto and controlling the motion of his mech. At one point, he lost control of it, and had to stop. Duo, who was having similar problems, also stopped, and both were breathing heavily in their cockpits for a while. Once he could maintain a calm expression, Duo opened up an audio channel.

"Yo, Quatre! You still with me over there?" The other didn't respond for a long while.

"Quatr-"

"I-I'm okay…"

"There you are… for a moment, I was afraid you'd gone and passed out on me again!"

"Ha… I'm not far from it, I'm afraid… Right now, I feel like I'm on fire!"

As he spoke, his body was pulsing with heat. Using his one good hand, Quatre undid the buttons to his shirt collar and opened his shirt, almost wishing he could feel that blistering cold from before. He remembered lying facedown in the soft, pure-white powder, and recalled, at some point, how peaceful he was. He was going to die… That's what he truly believed, then. And given the circumstances, he was almost ready to embrace that fate. For a moment, that cold snow felt like warm sand on the beach, and he could almost feel the excruciating heat from the sun beating down onto his back.

Maybe it was the desire, the need to feel and see that sunlight again that made him get up, just as it was that need that drove him forward again. The walk was even slower when they started up again, but at least they weren't standing still. Although, there was still a problem neither had stopped to think about.

"Say Duo… how can we be sure we're headed in the right direction?"

"What?"

"We have no idea where we're headed right now. For all we know, we could be getting ourselves even MORE lost!"

"Hey, hey… give my navigating skills a little more credit than that! I'm fairly certain I know where we're going!"

"Fairly? Oh, wonderful…"

"It doesn't matter… you wont have to worry about that too much longer!"

The voice that came over their frequency was familiar, and at the same time, both pilots knew things weren't right. They HAD heard that voice before- from their client at the start of the assignment. Suddenly, large objects popped out of the snow around them, soon to be recognized as Leo mobile suits. All of them had been painted pure white, which was why the two weary pilots had failed to notice them, before then. There was only one suit, however, that had not been painted white, though; it was a newly remodeled black Aries unit. Nobody saw it, but Duo grinned.

"That's just what we need."

"Hello, again, gundam pilots!"

"Heh. Hi to yourself! How nice of you to have sent out a search party to save us, mister!"

"Well, you're very welcome… but I'm afraid we're not here to save you. But by now, you must know what I mean."

"Yeah… this was a set-up. You wanted to get us out in a place where you could ambush us, right? Well, I'm sorry to say, we're not so easy to get rid of."

"Oh, I know. My supervisors in OZ have told me such."

The leo suits moved in a little closer, and Deathscythe moved closer to Sandrock. While he was ready to rubmle, he had to wonder if Quatre could handle it in his condition. Over the past hour, the other boy had been slipping, and at least once, when they had started, Duo had to leave his machine and help bring him out of unconsciousness. Despite the pain and exhaustion the blonde was feeling, and despite the intense heat his body was dispensing, he controlled Sandrock into a battle stance. Of course, only his right arm was working, as the other was still in a sling. The leos moved closer and closer.

"Duo, are we even equipped for a battle?"

"Well, it's nothing extravagant… we may have a few cartridges left in the machine guns, and out handheld weapons may hold out for a while, but the cold is slowly damaging our systems. At the most, we may have an hour before everything turns off. But by then…"

"I see… locked in a losing battle once more."

The enemy's voice came over the radio again.

"What are you two mumbling about? You know there is no way to escape this!"

"Ah, we know… we were just saying a little prayer!"

"Preparng to accept your fate, huh?"

"Not at all! The prayer… was for you!"

All at once, guns went off, and the snowy field was engulfed in smoke and steam. Mobile suit parts went flying about here and there, and the sounds of yells and screams echoed over the distance. For a moment, Quatre worried about causing an avalanche, but there was little chance anyone could avoid making noise. So, they kept fighting.

Seemingly an eternity had passed, and finally, the two gundams were the only units standing, save for the leader of the enemy group. The two breathed heavily, already tired. The cold had made their muscles stiff and sore, but there was one machine left to deal with.

"So, buddy… you ready to give up and apologize?"

He only smiled, though it could not be seen. Suddenly, Quatre caught movement from the corner of his eye, and shouted at Duo. The other, fearing that he'd missed one, turned and prepared to slice through the mobile suit coming at him. However, the arms of Deathscythe were held still, just before an attack could be dished out. What was surprising was not that he'd been held still, but that the enemy unit doing it had no head.

"W-what the…"

"Duo! They've got to be mobile dolls!"

"I guessed that much! But then, cutting off the head should have stopped it!"

"Not these kind," the enemy admitted, "the control system is elsewhere. Quatre got an idea, and turned toward Duo, using his blades to cut through the enemy's mid-section, where the cockpit was. The unit creaked loudly before falling apart and exploding.

"Phew… thanks, man!"

"S-sure."

But that wasn't all. As soon as that suit fell, all the others rose again, to fight them. Time was quickly running out, and their resources were running thin. All the bullets had been used up, Duo's scythe was quickly losing power, and when he tried to turn, his leg was jammed. The brunette cursed to himself, and his mind was a blank. Maybe, this would be one losing battle that really….

As he thought this, two shots came out from in front and behind Sandrock, knocking the gundam first backwards and then forwards. Sandrock was soon on hands and knees, no longer able to rise back up. Quatre yelled, and quickly held his hurting, bleeding arm closer to his body, as opposed to trying to work the controls to ease his fall. When his unit went down, the boy was still yelling, and Duo had lost his signal. Hurriedly, he tried to restore communication, but before he could push the final key, another shot was fired, and Deathscythe fell to one knee. Duo's seatbelt tore, slightly, and his head went forward, hitting the glass of the front pannel, for a second time.

Once his world stopped spinning, he pushed the last key. The dark of Quatre's cockpit came into view, and Duo saw that his blonde friend's head was down. the temporary bandages and sling were already stained with blood again, and he couldn't tell if the other was still awake. He tried to speak, but the first time didn't work. He coughed hoarsely, and tried again.

"Q-Quatre? Hey… come on, man. Don't give up on me, now!"

"Duo…"

"Yeah, I know…"

The enemy came in close, and both closed their eyes. If that was it, then maybe they were glad. They wouldn't have to fight, anymore; kill anymore.

"It was a pleasure fighting with you."

"Same here."

"Ha ha ha! This is it, gundam pilots! Fare ye well! Leo units, atta-"

But he didn't get the chance to finish, as several bombs started to fall from the sky, and landfire came out of the fog all around them. One-by-one, the enemy fell, and the three there were shocked. Duo and Quatre looked up to see maganac mobile units closing in. Rasid's voice came over the waves, and Quatre was able to relax even a little.

"Master Quatre, sir Maxwell, we have found you!"

"Rasid…"

The video screen came up on Quatre's left, and Rasid's eyes widened considerably to behold the blood on the screen and the weak and vulnerable state of the young man. But still, the blonde was trying his best to smile and be hopeful.

"Master Quatre…"

"Thank you… thank you so much for coming… "

"Of course."

Rasid turned to the others as the last of the leos were finished, and made an announcement.

"Everyone, Master Quatre has been gravely injured, and so has sir Maxwell! We must get them back to the base as soon as possible!"

"Right!"

"Wait just second…"

All eyes went to the front, where the black suit was. The enemy had a laser rifle pointed right at Rasid and the two gundams, ready to open fire immediately.

"None of you will be going, anywhere with them. I could destroy the three of you with one push of a button! …In fact, I will."

Rasid, concerned not for himself, shielded the other two and awaited the attack. He heard the click of the trigger… and then silence.

"W-what is this…?"

Duo smiled again, and his light, pained laughter echoed out.

"Oh, yeah… I must have forgotten to mention it, but… I found that little suit of yours in the hanger before we were forced off the plane!"

"WHAT!"

"Well, I've always been too curious for my own good… I couldn't just leave it without messing with it, first. I disabled the weaponry systems… and…. Left you a present."

It was then that the enemy gasped, noticing for the first time that several circular bombs had been placed all around the suit. He tried to get out of his cockpit and escape, but Rasid fired a shot at the door, jamming it closed.

"No… oh, no… please, don't do it!"

"Sorry… but we're in the business of building a peaceful world, and you're just not welcome in it."  
"He's right, I'm afraid."

"So, Quatre… would you care to do the honors?"

Quatre looked in one of the compartments next to his console and found a detonator button. He made a noise of acceptance and rose the detonator up, finger on the button.

"Please give my reguards…"

a click and a loud explosion was the last thing he could remember before passing out.

--

Quatre was in darkness, still… The pain had numbed him, and the fever was still clouding his mind. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but he knew he was still in his machine. Then, though he couldn't keep his eyes open, his ears started working, and they registered loud screeching noises, like metal tearing through metal. The air was thick all around him, suffocating him, but then, all of a sudden, things brightened around him, and fresh, cool air assulted the blonde.

He breathed out and in desperately, almost as if he had not been breathing that whole time. Then, the feel of warm, rough hands were there, touching his face, his shoulder, his injured arm. A voice called out to him several times, and finally, he remembered that his eyes were closed. He forced them open, if not only halfway, and in front of him was his dear friend, Rasid.

The older man was half inside Sandrock's cockpit, and he was very gently unbuckling Quatre's harnesses.

"R-Rasid…"

"I'm here, Master Quatre! Just relax, now… I've got you."

Rasid got the boy undone and hugged him lightly as he lifted him out of his bloodied seat. The other maganac who had helped to open the hatch gasped in horror at seeing the boy in such tattered condition, but Rasid kept them focussed, ordering for two stretchers to be set out to carry the boys to the infirmary.

Duo was also being helped out of his machine by then, and he, too, needed some help getting down. Although, he chose to walk on his own feet, rather than be carried down. Auda had a hand around his waist and one of Duo's arms around his shoulder for support. The stretchers came out, and Duo was carefully laid down onto one. But still, he was worried about his companion. Quatre didn't care for what was happening, however.

As soon as he'd been lifted from his seat, his life was in Rasid's hands. His head lolled from side to side for a moment before falling against the older man's shoulder and staying there. He carried Quatre down the ladder and onto the platform where a second stretcher was set. The blonde made some sounds of protest as he was taken from the source of warmth and laid on an annoyingly flat surface. But, as soon as he had been set down, the hand from before was on his face again, encouraging him to open his eyes. He needed to stop forgetting he was closing them. So, as the voice asked, he opened his eyes again.

"Master Quatre… I know it's a lot to ask of you, but please stay awake for a moment."

"…"

"You don't have to speak, but stay with me."

"I'm okay… Rasid?"

"Yes?"

"How is Duo?"

"Why not ask him, yourself?"

Rasid looked up and to his left, and Quatre followed his gaze. Duo's stretcher had been lifted, and then brought up next to him, and the boy was grinning innocently.

"Hey, man… I see you made it!"

"Yeah… I'm here."

"Glad ta hear it!"

"Ha ha… geeze, I hate snow."

"Makes sense, with you living in the desert, an' all!"

They both smiled. Then, Quatre lifted a shaky hand to the other, and they shook.

"Guess that's just our luck, huh?"

Duo chuckled lightly, and Quatre looked back up to the blurring ceiling, still smiling.

"It sure is…"


End file.
